Printing apparatus and attachment therefor



Jlm 1942- I w. c. HANIGAN 2,286,087

PRINTING APPARATUS AND ATTACHMENT THEREFOR Filed March 22, 1940 2 Sheets-Sheet l c zaeiziz 4 June 9, 1942.

w. c. HANIGAN 2,286,087

PRINTING APPARATUS AND ATTACHMENT THEREFOR Filed March 22, 1940 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Patented June 9, 1942 l UNlTED STATS ATENT FFICE PRINTING APPARATUS AND ATTACHMENT THEREFOR 13 Claims.

This invention relates to improvements in rotary printing apparatus and to type-carrying attachments therefor.

In setting up the type on the drum of a conventional rotary printing machine, it is the usual practice to first set up a complete line of type on a fork and then transfer this line to a typereceiving channel on the drum. In this manner, type is set up on the drum for a whole page of printing.

For full or substantially full page printing this prior art drum printing duplicating machine is satisfactory; however, if but a few lines, say, 2 to about 6 or '7, are to be printed, as, for example, for Christmas cards, letter heads and the like, the use of the drum is not entirely satisfactory. Not only is time consumed in transferring the line or lines of type from the fork to the drum, but also in positioning the line or lines in the desired type-receiving channels so that the type will contact the surface to be printed in the desired position on the paper or card. In addition, these drums are designed to receive and carry individual pieces of type which have been preformed so as to be engaged in the channels of the drum and cannot be used with preformed solid lines of type such as linotype slugs.

In accordance with the present invention I e to receive and carry any desired number of individual line chases carrying individual lines of type or type height solid line slugs and maintain them in the desired type-height position for printing. By the aid of the chase holder in accordance with my invention I am enabled to set up any desired number of lines of type ready for printing in a minimum of time and to readily position the assembled lines for printing contact with the desired portion of the paper or card.

The chase holder in accordance with my invention is simple in design and construction and relatively inexpensive to manufacture. It has many other advantages which will become apparent from the following detailed description of some embodiments thereof. It is, of course, to be understood that my invention is not to be limited to the details of the chase holders shown and herein described since many apparent changes may be made therein without departing from the principle of my invention and from the scope of the appended claims.

Referring to the drawings:

Figure 1 is a perspective view of a conventional rotary printing machine showing my novel chase holder in operative position on the machine with a plurality of type-carrying chases gripped therein in type-height position;

Fig. 2 is a transverse sectional view through the chase holder and main shaft taken substantially along the line 2-2 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a longitudinal sectional view thereof taken substantially along the line 33 of Fig. 2, showing a clamped position;

Fig. 4 is a top plan View thereof, with parts in section as indicated, showing an unclamped position;

Fig. 5 is an enlarged perspective view of a combination fork and chase which is adapted to be used in the chase holder in accordance with my invention; i

Fig. 6 is a fragmentary sectional view, similar to Fig. 2, showing a modified. chase holder; and

Fig. 7 is a fragmentary sectional view, similar to Fig. 2, but showing a special multi-channelled chase operatively engaged therein.

In the drawings, there is shown a frame of a rotary printing machine, of conventional design and construction, comprising a horizontal base or bed It), provided on either side with uprights or standards l2, l3 preferably, formed integrally with the base. In these standards is rotatably jou-rnalled a horizontal shaft l5. Ad-

, jacent to the standards and carried by the shaft are conventional spiders l1, H! which are normally designed to support and carry a conventional segment or drum (not shown) on the peripheral surfaces 20, 2|, respectively, of the spiders. This drum forms no part of and is not used in the duplicating printing machine in accordance with my invention. The spiders are tied together by suitable cross members, indicated at 22.

A handle or crank 23 is shown for manually rotating the shaft, but it is, of course, manifest that the shaft may be power-driven.

The chase holder comprises a body portion 21 having a depending jaw 28. Cooperating with jaw 28 is a movable jaw 29 adapted to clamp shaft If. The jaws are controlled by a draw bolt 30 having a handle portion 3| cooperating with the body portion 32 of the movable jaw. Body portion 21 extends upwardly from shaft I5 and terminates in an enlarged chase-retaining head portion 35. The head portion extends substantially the full distances between the opposing spiders, and the clamping portion, including both jaws, has the same length for the sake of uniformity, although this is not essential.

Head portion 35 has a longitudinal chaseretaining slot 31 whose walls 38, 39 taper outwardly away from the head to permit the chase to assume the proper position in the slot and at the same time prevent buckling thereof. As shown here, three chases 40, 4| and 42, separated by wedge-shaped spacers 44, are disposed in slot 31 and are retained in clamped position therein as hereinafter described.

As shown in Figs. 2 and 5, each chase comprises a body portion 45 having a rectangular cross section with the upper face slotted to form a type-receiving channel 41. At the upper portion of the chase, the body is extended to form a pair of tines 48, 49, separated as at 50, having their inside sufaces shaped to form prolongations of the type-receiving channel. It is, of course, obvious that the dimensions of the body portion are such as to maintain the type in a proper printing position.

In order to support the chase holder in the desired position radially, the chase head is provided with extensions 52, 53, 54 and 55 on pposite sides thereof which overlie the spiders l1, l8 and which are adapted to be pulled down tightly in contact with the peripheral surfaces 25, 2| of the spiders when the jaws 28, 29 are tightened about shaft l5. By virtue of this construction the type is maintained at the proper height to insure proper contact with the surface of the paper or card to be printed.

The chase clamping mechanism, shown in detail in Figs. 2-4, includes the following. The front portion 57 of head 35 is provided with a plurality of aligned apertures 58, (Fig. 3), suitably counter-sunk at 59. Slidable in each aperture is a clamping pin 53 having a coiled spring 62 encircling the shank thereof. Each pin terminates in an enlarged circular head 63 adapted to play in the counter-sinking. The length of each pin 68 is such that the head thereof normally projects slightly beyond the plane of face 55 of front portion 51 (Fig. 4) in order that clamping pressure may be exerted.

Bearing against heads 63 is a clamping plate 61 which is adapted to urge the heads inwardly against the action of the springs to obtain a clamping action. Bearing against clamping plate 61 is a camming plate 68. The clamping and camming plates are maintained in loosely assembled relation on front portion 51 by a pair of adjustable cap screws 69, H1 threaded into the front portion. Clamping plate 6! is provided with apertures 12 to clear the shank of each cap screw. Camming plate 68 is provided with enlarged apertures 14 having counter-sunk cam portions 75 which are adapted to cooperate with the complemental undersurfaces ll of the heads of the cap screws 69, 10. By virtue of the enlarged apertures 14, the camming plate 68 is permitted some movement within its own plane. The cap screws are just long enough so that in the position shown in Fig. 3 the interaction of the two cam surface 16, T! forces the camming plate 68 tightly against the clamp plate 61 and thus press the pins 55 against the chase. Preferably, the pins are so located as to bear against the bottom portion of the main body of the chase.

In order to provide a convenient manual control for the clamp a handle 80 is provided.

This handle is carried by a rotatable block, indicated generally by the numeral 8|, having a pin portion 82 rotatably journalled in front portion 5! and maintained in position by a set screw 83. Block 8| has an eccentric 84, passing through the clamping and camming plates, which is only effective, however, on the camming plate. It is obvious that on rotation of the handle the eccentric 84 displaces the camming plate and cams it inwardly to effect clamping or unclamping of the chases, as desired. In the position shown in Fig. 4, the chases are in unclamped position. On rotation of handle 80 counter-clockwise to the position shown in Fig. 3, the chases are clamped.

Referring to Fig. 6, the chases 49, 4|, 42 taper outwardly from the bottom to the top thereof and each has a tongue 86 and a groove 81 extending longitudinally on opposite sides thereof. The chases are held together in interfitted position by tongue 88 and groove 89 in head portion 35 and the chase assembly is locked or clamped as described above. By virtue of the tapering, the requirements for spacers between the chases as in Figs. 2-4 is obviated.

Referring to Fig. 7, the head portions of Figs. 2-4 is shown holding an arcuate shaped, multichannelled chase 93. In order to accommodate chase 90, the upper faces 9i, 92 of head 35 are machined to an arcuate form. The chase is clamped by a rear plate 94, bolted to the rear part of head portion 35 as at 95, and by the upper portion of clamping plate 61. The surfaces for engaging the chase are suitably curved to conform to the sides of the chase, forming a dovetail assembly. In this form of my invention the entire clamping is effected between clamping plate 61 and rear plate 94.

In setting up the lines of type in the chase holders of Figs. 1 to 4 and 6, a line of type is forked up by the tines 48, 49 of the chase in a conventional manner and the type is then dropped into channel 4'! and locked in place. The chase containing the locked line of type is placed in the chase holder and the operation is to hold three chases, it is, of course, to be uncontinued with other similar chases until the holder is filled, whereupon the chases are clamped as described above. While in the detailed description of my invention specific reference has been made to a chase holder adapted derstood that the size of the chase holder may vary to accommodate any desired number of chases, for example, as indicated above.

In setting up the lines of type in the multichannelled chase shown in Fig. '7, a complete line of type is set up on a conventional fork and this line is transferred to one of the type-receiving channels. This operation is continued until the desired number of channels are set up with type. The chase is then clamped in place as described above.

In the detailed description of my invention I have described chase holders adapted to receive and clamp chases carrying lines of type. This has been by way of illustration only since these holders are adapted to receive and clamp preformed solid lines of type such as linotype slugs.

I claim:

1. In a rotary printing machine, a rotatable shaft, a pair of spaced, opposed, annular spiders carried thereby and a chase holder rigidly and removably secured to said shaft and extending radially therefrom between said spiders, said holder having an enlarged head slotted throughout the length thereof to receive a plurality of type-carrying members, each end of said slotted enlarged head being closely adjacent to one of said spiders and extensions from each side of said enlarged head overlying the spiders and in contact therewith and means for clamping said members and thereby retaining them rigidly within the slot.

2. In a rotary printing machine, a rotatable shaft, a pair of spaced, opposed, annular spiders carried thereby and a chase holder rigidly and removably secured to said shaft and extending radially therefrom between said spiders, said holder having an enlarged head slotted throughout the length thereof to receive a plurality of type-carrying members, the opposed surfaces of the slot being tapered outwardly away from said holder, each end of said slotted enlarged head being closely adjacent to one of said spiders, and extensions from each side of said enlarged head overlying the spiders and in contact therewith and means for clamping said members and thereby retaining them rigidly within the slots.

3. In a rotary printing machine, a rotatable shaft, a pair of spaced, opposed, annular spiders carried thereby and a chase holder rigidly and removably secured to said shaft and extending radially therefrom between said spiders, said holder having an enlarged head slotted throughout the length thereof to receive a plurality of type-carrying members, each end of said slotted enlarged head being closely adjacent to one of said spiders and extensions from each side of said enlarged head overlying the spiders and in contact therewith and means for clamping said members and thereby retaining them rigidly within the slot, said clamping means comprising a plurality of clamping pins slidably retained in said enlarged extremity and adapted to be urged inwardly into said slot to clamp said members and means to urge said pins inwardly.

4. In a rotary printing machine, a rotatable shaft, a pair of spaced, opposed, annular spiders carried thereby and a chase holder rigidly and removably secured to said shaft and extending radially therefrom between said spiders, said holder having an enlarged head slotted throughout the length thereof to receive a plurality of type-carry ng members, each end of said slotted enlarged head being closely adjacent to one of within the slot, said clamping means comprising a plurality of clamping pins slidably retained in said enlarged extremity and adapted to be urged inwardly into said slot to clamp said members, springs surrounding each of said pins adapted to normally urge the pins outwardly from the slot and means to urge said pins inwardly against the action of the springs.

5. In a rotary printing machine, a rotatable shaft, a pair of spaced, opposed, annular spiders carried thereby and a chase holder rigidly and removably secured to said shaft and extending radially therefrom between said spiders, said holder having an enlarged head slotted throughout the length thereof to receive a plurality of type-carrying members, each end of said slotted enlarged head being closely adjacent to one of said spiders and extensions from each side of said enlarged head overlying the spiders and in contact therewith and means for clamping said members and thereby retaining them rigidly within the slot, said clamping means comprising a plurality of clamping pins slidably retained in said enlarged extremity and adapted to be urged inwardly into said slot to clamp said members, a clamping plate adapted to bear against said pins, a camming plate adapted to bear against said clamping plate and means to cam said camming plate against said clamping plate to urge said pins inwardly.

6. In a rotary printing machine, a rotatable shaft, a pair of spaced, opposed, annular spiders carried thereby and a chase holder rigidly and removably secured to said shaft and extending radially therefrom between said spiders, said holder having an enlarged head slotted throughout the length thereof to receive a plurality of type-carrying members, the opposed surfaces of the slot being tapered outwardly away from said holder, each end of said slotted enlarged head being closely adjacent to one of said spiders, and extensions from each side of said enlarged head overlyingthe spiders and in contact therewith and means for clamping said members and thereby retaining them rigidly within the slots, said clamping means comprising a plurality of clamping pins slidably retained in said enlarged extremity and adapted to be urged inwardly into said slot to clamp said members and means to urge said pins inwardly.

7. In a rotary printing machine, a rotatable shaft, a pair of spaced, opposed, annular spiders carried thereby and a chase holder rigidly and removably secured to said shaft and extending radially therefrom between said spiders, said holder having an enlarged head slotted throughout the length thereof to receive a plurality of type-carrying members, the opposed surfaces of the slot being tapered outwardly away from said holder, one of said surfaces having a longitudinally extending tongue and the other an opposed longitudinally extending groove, each end of said slotted enlarged head being closely adjacent to one of said spiders, and extensions from each side of said enlarged head overlying the spiders and in contact therewith and means for clamping said members and thereby retaining them rigidly within the slot, said clamping means comprising a plurality of clamping pins slidably retained in said enlarged head and adapted to be urged inwardly into said slot to clamp said members and means to urge said pins inwardly.

8. In a rotary printing machine, a rotatable shaft, a pair of spaced, opposed, annular spiders carried thereby and a chase holder rigidly and removably secured to said shaft and extending radially therefrom between said spiders, said holder having an enlarged chase-retaining head the upper face of which is machined to an armate form, extensions from each end of said enlarged head overlying the spiders and in contact therewith, said machined face being adapted to support an iarcuate-shaped m-ulti-channelled chase, said extensions also being adapted to support said chase, a plate rigidly secured to the rear wall of said enlarged head, said plate extending above the machined face of said head and being inturned, a similar plate loosely secured to the front wall of said enlarged head, said second named plate-having an int'urned extension above said machined face and means to urge said second-named plate toward said first-named plate to clamp said multi-channelled chase.

9. A chase holder adapted to be removably secured to the rotatable shaft of a rotary printing machine and to coact with the conventional spiders thereof, comprising an elongated head portion slotted throughout the length thereof to receive a plurality of type-carrying members, and extensions from each side of said head portion adapted to overlie and engage the spiders when the holder is clamped to the shaft, means for clamping said type-carrying members and thereby retain them rigidly within the slot and means to removably secure the holder to the shaft.

10. A chase holder adapted to be removably secured to the rotatable shaft of a rotary printing machine and to coact with the conventional spiders thereof, comprising an elongated head portion slotted throughout the length thereof to receive a plurality of type-carrying members, extensions from each side of said head portion adapted to overly and engage the spiders when the holder is clamped to the shaft, means for clamping said type-carrying members and thereby retain them rigidly within the slot and means to removably secure the holder to the shaft, said clamping means comprising a plurality of clam-ping pins slida-bly retained in said head and adapted to be urged inwardly into said slot to clamp said members and means to urge said pins in Wardly.

11. A chase holder adapted to be removably secured to the rotatable shaft of a rotary printing machine and to coact with the conventional spiders thereof, comprising an elongated head portion slotted throughout the length thereof to receive a plurality of type-carrying members, the opposed surfaces of the slot being tapered outwardly away from said holder, extensions from each side of said head portion adapted to overlie and engage the spiders when the holder is clamped to the shaft, means for clamping said type-carrying members and thereby retain them rigidly within the slot and means to removably secure the holder to the shaft, said clamping means comprising a plurality of clamping pins slidably retained in said head and adapted to be urged inwardly into said slot to clamp said members, a clamping plate adapted to bear against said pins, a camming plate adapted to bear against said clamp-ing plate and means to cam said camming plate against said clamping plate to urge said pins inwardly.

12. In the chase holder set forth in claim 11 wherein one of the opposed tapered surfaces of the slot is provided with a longitudinally extending tongue and the other surface is provided with an opposed longitudinally extending groove.

13. A chase holder adapted to being removably secured to the rotatable shaft of a rotary printing machine and to coact with the conventional spiders thereof, comprising an enlarged chaseretaining head portion having an upper face machined to an arcuate form, extensions at each end of said face extending outwardly from the ends of said head, said faces and extensions therefrom being adapted to support an arcuateshaped multi-channelled chase, a plate rigidly secured to the rear wall of said enlarged head, said plate extending above the machined face of said head and being inturned, a similar plate loosely secured to the front wall of said enlarged head, said second-named plate having an inturned extension above said machined face, and means to urge said second-named plate towards said first named plate.

WILLIAM C. HANIGAN. 

